Philatelic mounts and method of making same



Nov. 16, 1965 c. T. HATHAWAY 3,217,438

PHILATELIC MOUNTS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Oct. 7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN TOR. CHARL 5 7.- HA THA WAY Nov. 16, 1965 C. T. HATHAWAY PHILATELIC MOUNTS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Oct. '7, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 fj INVENTOR.

I; I CHAPL5 T HATHAWAY y BY $%4Z ATTORNtIYfi United States Patent 3,217,438 PHILATELIC MOUNTS AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Charles T. Hathaway, 253 Slater Ave, Springfield, Mass. Filed Oct. 7, 1960, Ser. No. 61,295 Claims. ((11. 40-159) This invention relates to mounts for the display and protection of postage stamps in albums, and particularly to improved methods of manufacturing such amounts.

There are presently available stamp mounts of the type having a backing sheet with a superimposed transparent cover sheet secured to one of the marginal edges of the backing sheet. The undersurface of the backing sheet is provided with an adhesive coating for applying the mounts to the pages of albums. Since the cover and backing sheets are joined together along one edge, the stamps are not held securely in place and have a tendency to become displaced.

While there are also available other types of mounts which are not subject to the above objection, they are generally marketed in a large variety of predimensioned sizes adapted to receive various size stamps and block arrangements. Collectors must thus purchase a large number of different size mounts.

An object of this invention is to provide stamp mount sheets each of which may be used to obtain a plurality of individual mounts of superior stamp retaining capabilities, the constructional features of the sheets being of such versatility that the collector may tailor each mount in accordance with the size, number and block arrangement of the stamps to be mounted.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved method of manufacturing stamp mount sheets of the above type.

A further object of this invention is to provide stamp mounts of the type which afford superior protection against moisture.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatical view showing steps in the process of making stamp mounts embodying the invention;

FIGS. 2-4 are perspective views showing further steps in the process of making stamp mounts and embodying the invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a stack of stamp mount sheets produced by the process shown in FIGS. 1-4;

FIG. 6 is a partial cross sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale of one of the stamp mount sheets manufactured in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a stamp mount obtained from one of the sheets such as shown in FIG. 6; and

FIG. 8 shows an alternative type of mount embodying the invention.

Referring in detail to the drawings, in FIG. 1 is shown diagrammatically a sheeting device of the type which may be used for superimposing a web 10 of flexible transparent sheet material on a web 12 of backing material such as paper, cardboard and the like. The webs 10 and 12 are preferably identically dimensioned and their edges are disposed in registered relation. The transparent sheet material may be synthetic plastic such as suitable cellulose acetates, including triacetates and acetate butyrates, cellophane, oriented polystyrene film and the like. The backing material may be any fibrous material of generally absorbent character which is essentially insoluble in conventional solvents. Kraft paper or other similar stamp mounting papers having an adhesive or gum backing 14 (FIG. 6) are examples of such fibrous materials which may be used. The adhesive is usually water soluble but substantially insoluble in other conventional solvents. The adhesive backing on the paper may be a continuous cast coating or preferably in the form of microscopic particles providing a so-called fiat gummed paper. The fiat gummed paper eliminates the tendency of curling, which is a troublesome problem in handling adhesive backed sheet material.

The webs It) and 12 are drawn from their respective rolls by some suitable means such as rollers 13 and disposed in superposed relation. As shown, the web 10 is disposed on the adhesive-free surface of the paper. The two webs are cut longitudinally into a plurality of strips such as indicated at 15 in FIG. 1. The strips are stacked with their edges in registered relation and cut to desired sheet size to provide stacks such as shown at 16, in FIG. 2. The stack comprises at least one sheet 10 of transparent plastic disposed between the adjacent adhesive and adhesive-free sides of adjacent sheets of paper 12.

After stacking, the sheets are clamped or pressed together by suitable means such as plates 22 and clamp 24, shown in FIG. 3. The clamp is tightened sufliciently to press the sheets together in tight surface-to-surface contact to inhibit entry of fluid therebetween.

While in this clamped condition, the stack is introduced into a suitable solvent. As shown in FIG. 4, the stack is wholly dipped or immersed in a liquid 26 contained in a suitable reservoir or tank 28. The liquid 26 is essentially a non-aqueous solvent in which the plastic sheet material 10 is sufiiciently soluble to be softened, but in which the adhesive backing on the paper is substantially insoluble. While the solvent shown is a liquid, it is to understood that a solvent in vaporous or gaseous state could also be used.

Acetone is an illustrative example of one such solvent which may be used when the plastic cover sheets are cellulose acetate and the backing sheets are kraft paper having a water soluble adhesive backing essentially insoluble in acetone. An example of a suitable solvent for cellophane is ethylglycolmonomethyl ether. Benzene, toluene or chlorinated hydrocarbon solvents also produce suitable results where oriented polystyrene film is used as the cover material.

The clamped stacks of backing and cover sheets are immersed in the solvent 26 for a predetermined length of time to allow limited penetration by the solvent of the marginal edges of the fibrous material. Using acetone as a solvent with kraft paper backing sheets and acetate cover sheets, an immersion time on the order of one second has been found to produce suitable penetration.

The outer marginal edge portions of the plastic are softened sufiiciently by the penetrating solvent to enable the fibers of the adhesive-free marginal edge portions of the backing material to become imbedded in the plastic forming a plastic-fiber composite. The adhesive backing prevents similar bonding of the plastic sheets to the backs of the fibrous sheets. After removal of the stacks from the tank 28, the solvent evaporates causing setting or hardening of the plastic which provide a mechanical bond or seal between the marginal edges of the paper and plastic cover sheets. Using acetate sheets and acetone as a solvent, it has been found that dipping the stacks for about one second results in a penetration of about and insures a good bond of the plastic and fibrous sheets.

The end product of this process consists of stacks of sheets or blanks 30 such as shown in FIG. 5. Each sheet comprises a fibrous backing sheet 12 and a plastic cover sheet 10 overlying the adhesive-free surface of the sheet 12 .and sealed or bonded as at 32 to the marginal edges of the paper around the entire periphery thereof.

Since the adhesive coating 14 on the back. of the fibrous Sheets is essentially insoluble in the solvent 26, it provides a barrier which prevents absorption of the softened plastic of the sheets disposed on the underside of the backing sheets. As a result, each of the blanks 39 may be readily separated from the stack. The ease of separation is further aided by the fact that the plastic sheets do not adhere to the gum backing of the paper even if the adhesive had been activated by the solvent.

The stamp mounts embodying this invention are preferably marketed in pad or pack form. Accordingly, after removal from the solvent the stacks may be divided into a number of pads of convenient size for packaging and sale. Among the advantages of marketing the mounting sheets in pad form is reduction in the tendency of the mounts curling as a result of varying humidity conditions.

In using the mount blanks or sheets, shown in FIG. 5, a stamp collector may cut out corner portions of the blank to any desired size and configuration to obtain mounts tailored for the stamp or stamps to be mounted. The mounts may then be pasted in the album by using the gum provided on the back of the paper sheets. It will be apparent that each of the mounting sheets provides as many as four separate and distinct corner mounts of the type shown in FIG. 7. Each of the mounts has two adjacent sealed edges 32 which, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, may be disposed in upright and horizontal directions on the pages of an album. This corner seal arrangement insures a firm grip on the two corresponding edges of a stamp or block of stamps and reduces the likelihood of stamps slipping from the mounts. In addition, since each mount has two open or unsealed edges, the danger of damage from differential expansion and contraction of the stam and mount is substantially eliminated. Moreover, this arrangement provides a mount having relatively large openings which facilitates insertion and removal of stamps for any desired reason. Another advantage of the mounts is the border provided by the edge seals 32 which frames stamps and sets them out from the pages of the album. While it may be preferable to cut the mounting sheets so as to form corner type mounts, such as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the versatility of the sheets also enables cutting to form mounts sealed along one or three edges.

Utilizing mounts of the type embodying this invention, a collector is able to mount all sizes of stamps or blocks with a minimum of waste by using only three basic sizes of sheets of the type shown in FIGS. and 6. Small sheets, such as 2 /2 X 3 /2 will provide from one to as many as four individual corner mounts for small blocks or single stamps. Large sheets, such as 7 /2 X 10 /2 will provide from one to as many as four individual mounts for relatively large blocks and souvenir sheets, and medium size sheets, such as 5 X 7, may be similarly used for mounting intermediate size blocks and plate blocks. The selection of a given size sheet will be determined by the number and arrangement of stamps to be mounted which results in minimum waste.

An alternative form of stamp mount is shown in FIG. 8. The mount comprises a backing sheet 12 of the type described above and two transparent plastic sheets 34 and '36 sealed to adjacent edges of the backing sheet as at 38. The process of making mounts of this type is the same as described above, except instead of one sheet of transparent plastic material, two identical sheets are used. The stamp or stamps are inserted between. the two plastic sheets the inner plastic sheet preventing the adhesive on the back of the stamp from contacting the backing paper. Mounts of this type afford protection against stamp damage resulting from stamps becoming stuck to the backing paper, such. as in humid weather when the water soluble stamp adhesive may be activated.

Having thus described this invention what is claimed is:

1. Multi-leaf stamp mounting sheets comprising a sheet of fibrous material, adhesive on the undersurface of the fibrous sheet material for afifixing said sheets to album pages, at least two transparent sheets of synthetic plastic material superimposed on the adhesive-free surface of said fibrous sheet, the edge portions of both said transparent sheets being bonded to the edge portions of said fibrous sheet.

2. Multi-leaf stamp mounting sheets .as set forth in claim 1 in which the bonded edges of said mounting sheets consists essentially of a mergence of palstic in the body of said fibrous sheet material and adhesive on the undersurface therefor.

3. Multi-leaf stamp mounting sheets comprising a sheet of fibrous material, a transparent sheet of synthetic plastic material superimposed on said fibrous sheet, an adhesive-free bond joining only the edge portions of said fibrous sheet and the edge portions of said transparent sheet, an adhesive layer disposed on the undersurface of said fibrous sheet, and covering an area at least coextensive with the bonded edges of said fibrous and transparent sheets, said stamp mounting sheets being of sufiicient size to enable them to be cut to provide a plurality of individual stamp mounts each having two adjacent edges of the plastic and fibrous sheet bonded together.

4. Multi-leaf stamp mounting sheets comprising a sheet of paper, a transparent sheet of synthetic plastic material superimposed on the paper, an adhesive-free bond joining only the edge portions of said paper and plastic sheet together around the entire periphery of said sheets, an adhesive layer on the undersurface of said paper covering an area at least coextensive with the bonded area of said sheets, said sheets being of sutficient size to enable them to be cut to provide from one to four individual stamp mounts, each characterized by having two adjacent edges of the plastic and paper bonded together with adhesive underlying said bonded edges whereby each. of said mounts may be securely adhered to the page of an album.

5. Multi-leaf stamp mounting sheets of rectangular shape each comprising a sheet of paper, said sheet having an adhesive layer covering one surface thereof, a transparent sheet of synthetic plastic material superimposed on the adhesive free surface of the paper with its edges in registered relation therewith, the four edges only of said plastic sheet and said paper being sealed together, adjacent edges of the rectangular sheets being of sufi'icient length to enable said sheets to be cut into sectiorg providing from one to four individual corner sealed stamp mounts, each corner sealed mount including a portion of at least two of said adjacent edges wherein the trans parent material and paper are sealed together.

(References on following page) References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Pollock 40-159 Pinto 12920 McKeen 22971 Brodsky 40159 Southwick 154-116 Birch 40-458 Widmaier 40-159 Copen 154116 Warnaw 40158 12/1959 Charleston 40159 2/1960 Lumpkin 40-159 6/1960 Gale 40-158 12/1960 Parker 40-158 FOREIGN PATENTS 11/ 1934 Austria.

3/ 1955 Great Britain.

10 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. 

1. MULTI-LEAF STAMP MOUNTING SHEETS COMPRISING A SHEET OF FIBROUS MATERIAL, ADHESIVE ON THE UNDERSURFACE OF THE FIBROUS SHEET MATERIAL FOR AFFIXING SAID SHEETS TO ALBUM PAGES, AT LEAST TWO TRANSPARENT SHEETS OF SYNTHETIC PLASTIC MATERIAL SUPERIMPOSED ON THE ADHESIVE-FREE SURFACE OF SAID FIBROUS SHEET, THE EDGE PORTIONS OF BOTH SAID TRANSPARENT SHEETS BEING BONDED TO THE EDGE PORTIONS OF SAID FIBROUS SHEET. 